Poor judge going after friend (6)
I believe the answer is:
paltry
'poor' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'judge going after friend' is the wordplay.
'judge' becomes 'try' (as in trialling a defendant).
'going after' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'friend' becomes 'pal' (pal can mean a friend).
'try' put after 'pal' is 'PALTRY'.
(Other definitions for paltry that I've seen before include "Meagre; petty, trivial" , "Measly, trifling" , "Trivial, comtemptible" , "Insignificant, trifling" , "Mean, petty" .)